return to what you must do

[immortalia]

Characters: Sertoria Cani and YOU.
Setting: Room 1-03, Cafeteria, Floor 15, Third Block through Sixth Block.
Format: Action, but I can match.
Summary: Sertoria returns to the tower and decides to return straight to work.
Warnings: Possible feels...?

[ Room 1-03 ]

[ Those in the room can find a blond-haired android laying down in the bed as if she's asleep. Her eyes slide open and she sits up, looking around. Okay, this wasn't Quaeda. She was in the...

Oh, in Joshua's name--

Sertoria allows an irritated growl to come forth from her mouth before running a hand through her hair. She stretches her limbs before standing up and looking around, feeling her head. So, her headset was still there as well as her visor. She places a hand around her neck and feels her restraint while noticing there was one on her wrist as well. So her equipment was there, but she felt awfully light... ]

Check current storage specifications.

Current storage reveals basic specifications for unit. Unit CXEV5001 does not carry any weaponry... Current storage scan is complete.

[ Sertoria leans down to her chest, noting her photo album, operating manual and her trusty gunblade as well as the hilts of her sword and rifle. She presses a button on her arms and one on her leg to store her weaponry before they just disappear.

She takes another glance down at herself before noticing that she was just in her tunic. She takes her dusty, tattered robe and adjusts it slightly.

Oh, wait. She might have roommates. Oops. ]

Ah--hello. Pardon me, I did not mean to disturb you. If you have not seen a robot before, please note that I've come in peace. I do not wish to harm you.

[ And a smile! ]

[ Cafeteria ]

[ Even though Sertoria knows she cannot process it, she knows that the tower could be unforgiving. So, she's sitting down at a table and eating (well, slurping) the oatmeal like a good girl. She cannot taste it, so she's spared the misfortune of ever knowing what it tastes like. ]

...I do not see what is so bad about this.

[ Maybe it's because you're unable to taste it, Sertoria. ]

[ Floor 15 ]

[ Upon entering the workshop, Sertoria strolls through the area. It's clear she's not the lightest of people, since every step she takes is weighted due to the frame she was designed with. She's hoping to see Doc here, but if she can't, then that's fine. She can wait to hopefully see him again. ]

...Um. Doc, are you here? It is me, Sertoria. It's been a while!

[ Please don't let her be wrong here. She was in her hellhole of a world for a while. It would be nice to see a friend after so long. ]

[ Third Block Onwards. ]

[ Sertoria has figured it out that the tower has gotten bigger, and as such, her external and internal maps should get updated. She's sketching down everything she can ahead of time and memorizing it with her infinitesimal data bank. She can be approachable as she's opening the doors to several rooms, but never staying inside long enough - her ocular sensors take care of that much. ]

...How many floors are there...? [ She quietly mutters, tapping a pen against her cheek in thought, quietly humming before returning to work. Looks like the work here is never done! ]

Comments

[fuhgeddaboudit]

Long enough, I can tellya that much. [Labrys pulled back, keeping her hands on Sertoria's shoulders as she did.]

Listen, has anybody else caught ya up on what's been goin' on?

[immortalia]

[ Sertoria decides to store her notes inside of her thanks to her infinitesimal storage compartment, looking straight in to Labrys' eyes. ]

Negative. I estimate it is a lot, however.

[fuhgeddaboudit]

Y'...might wanna find somewhere t'sit down for all this. It's kinda a lot t' deal with even for...y'know, people like us.

[Replaceable. Repairable. For Labrys, being in a body that wasn't hers wasn't such a big deal.]

[immortalia]

... All right.

[ Sertoria looks around and decides to sit down in the hallway on her knees, readjusting her robe slightly.

She takes in a deep breath before looking up at her android friend. ]

Go on. I am ready.

[fuhgeddaboudit]

Okay, here's the short version.

[Labrys knelt down as well, smoothing out her Yasogami uniform's skirt.]

T' start off, all a' this- [she waved a hand at the area] ain't real. It's all some kinda projection; even we ain't really what we look like. Under whatever this is all a' us are wires and some weird film. These collars ain't even collars--it's what we look like under whatever kinda hologram this is.

People are really flippin' out over it. Some of 'em are real upset, and I guess I can understand why. But I mean...we're still us, ya know? We just ain't in the right body, none of us.

[immortalia]

[ What.

Give Sertoria's processor a few moments to catch up on these shenanigans. Okay, so holograms. She understood that much, but projections? Even those she met before were the same way? ]

In other terms, what you are saying is that we are not real here?

[fuhgeddaboudit]

[Labrys shook her head emphatically, ponytail waving as she did.]

That ain't what I'm sayin'--that ain't the right way t' look at it at all! [She paused, hands fidgeting and head tilting as she tried to think of a better way to explain.] How'm I supposed t' put it so y' can get it like I do, uh...

[The android thought and thought before concluding she was vastly overcomplicating the matter. Labrys reached over and again placed a hand on Sertoria's shoulder.]

This ain't really 'real'--I mean, they ain't our original bodies. [She moved her hand and placed one finger over Sertoria's heart--or at least where it would be, Labrys wasn't sure how her friend was constructed.]

But this is. We're still us no matter what kinda case we're put in.

[immortalia]

[ Sertoria listens as intently as she can to Labrys' explanation, trying to put the pieces together. The visual cues definitely help her simplify the matters to an understandable point.

So, her body wasn't real, but yet, her heart and soul were? Could she finally have at least one of her wishes realized by this simple scrap of information? ]

So, I do have a heart after all...

[ She grips Labrys' hand with her own semi-tightly, the limb sort of shaking. If this was supposed to be bad news, she's not seeing it. ]

Thank you.

[fuhgeddaboudit]

What? A'course ya do--you got just as much a heart as me or anybody else.

[She'd expected another robot to take this well enough, thought not quite in this way.]

[immortalia]

Well... When you have done the things I have, you tend to not think you have a heart or a soul of your own.

[ That is said with the straightest face imaginable. Dare to press on, Labrys? ]

[fuhgeddaboudit]

...What're ya...talkin' about, Sertoria?

[okay sure let's have sad robot hour]

[immortalia]

[ Sertoria pauses for a minute, allowing a sad smile to form on her face as she looks up to the ceiling. ]

I have lived for 7,500 years, Labrys. In that time, I have destroyed villages and razed them to the ground. I have killed countless men, women and children all for my creators who programmed me to be the ultimate killing machine.

[...]

I did what they asked with no hesitation and no regret at the time. It was all because of fear that they would terminate me if I did not live up to their standards.

[ A lengthy pause with a slight sigh. Sorry, she doesn't have a full capability of sad emotions quite yet. ]

My real name is CXEV5001, Labrys. I am the 5001th android in the CXEV Program. Sertoria Cani is a name given to me by a very special man.

[fuhgeddaboudit]

[She didn't answer at first, shifting position and pulling her knees to her chest. The much younger android considered all this very carefully; the initial surprise on her face faded not to anger or shock, but quiet contemplation.]

[When she did finally speak, it was slowly and with some measure of care to how she chose her words.]

...D'you wanna know...how I got the name 'Labrys'?

[immortalia]

[ Sertoria half-expected the other android to shun her or call her a slew of names. When her reaction isn't what she was expecting, she pauses for a moment herself. ]

You are not afraid of me, even though you know I am a monster now?

[ She nods, allowing the younger one to go on with her explanation. ]

whoops this is huge

[fuhgeddaboudit]

I ain't afraid of ya at all, Sertoria.

[Labrys shook her head again, this time much more slowly.]

When I first got activated, the name they gave me was Unit #031. It's kinda complicated, but me an' the other thirty were all made to be able t'develop a personality--t' have a heart. The things we were made t' fight ain't somethin' that can be beat unless ya have one, basically.

Since we were made to be able t'fight too, I guess I ain't gotta say there was a lotta testing t' gather combat data. [Labrys laughed a little darkly, trying to shrug off the obvious pain in her voice.] What they did was put us in this arena t' fight each other. The one that didn't get destroyed kinda...'inherited' the others' data, I guess ya could call it. Their personality cores were transferred to mine; that's how I learned t' fight, I guess.

But developin' a heart ain't easy, and I couldn't a' done it without #024. She was just like me and all the others, but her heart was way ahead a' anyone else's. She talked and acted like a normal human, while I was still stuck seein' the world in data processing an' analysis. Eventually it kinda started to click that what I was fightin' and destroyin'...they were just like me and her. It coulda just as easily been me or #024 on the losin' end, and when I started thinkin' like that it got harder t' fight.

[Hugging her knees a little tighter, Labrys' scarlet eyes had long since been downcast as she spoke. She'd never actually talked at any great length about this, except to Narukami and the other Persona-users.]

Eventually I guess they got all they needed for the testin' phases. So one day alla these scientists gave me the name 'Fifth Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon Labrys'. That was gonna be the end of it, and I was so happy about that I told #024 we didn't haveta fight each other anymore.

[She shook her head, looking rather like she wanted to sink into the floor and vanish. her next few words carried more than a little bitterness to them.]

...I was stupid. Whaddya do with leftover material from an experiment, right? Y'get rid of it--so the next night that's what they...what I did.

They had me get rid a' all the other models that came before me. Even #024--I tried to just disarm her, but they overrode her programmin' so I didn't have a choice but t--

[Hands shaking in a deathgrip on her legs, Labrys couldn't really seem to speak properly for a moment.]

There's...there's more stuff that happened later, but that ain't the point right now. I killed all a' my sisters, and I didn't need seven thousand whatever years t' do it. And don't say 'you didn't have a choice'. Course I didn't but that ain't gonna make it any better.

I don't think either of us're all that bad. We...did what we had t' do so we could survive. So they wouldn't deactivate us or erase our memories, right? What I'm tryin' t' get at here is...if you're gonna convince yourself you're a monster, then you oughta know I ain't too much better. And I ain't gonna doubt you have a heart even if ya weren't built t' have one.

dear god why do you do this to my feels

[immortalia]

[ Sertoria listens to Labrys explain her past, her normal unemotional eyes steadily growing more and more sympathetic as she goes on. She takes note of how she's curling up, wanting to disappear completely before the elder android shifts from her position and offers Labrys a tight hug.

She moves to rest her chin on her shoulder, closing her eyes. She knows it's the past and it should stay there. However, it means a lot to her that she would go this in to detail about her history. ]

Thank you for telling me about your past, Labrys.

[...]

My program was much less kinder. CXEV is shorthand for Chorisis Xanthous Ethological Vessel and the initial program was to help families who could not reproduce biologically or just wanted an android of their own. CXEV0001 lived for only five minutes before being terminated due to instability. CXEV0002 to CXEV0500 were phenomenally better in processing, but they were deactivated and their parts were scrapped.

Then, the project took a turn for the worse. The team clashed and left, leaving only a small group to take up the work. It was no longer a simple project. In fact, it was nicknamed the project from hell. CXEV0501 to CXEV2000 were even better, but for various reasons, they only lived long enough to produce results for the next batch. My sisters were not given a chance to live.

[ Her grip on the other android tightens here as she can still hear her sisters' cries for mercy, but her head shakes rapidly while trying to calm herself down. ]

CXEV2001 to CX4775 were produced, but did not live up to the ever-changing standards or were even more unstable. CX4776 was...a special case. She worked flawlessly, but was miserable and ended up killing her creator before terminating her own programming.

The team that still remained either opted out for their own mental health or took the unfortunate way via killing themselves when CXEV4825 was developed. You would think that they would give up and condemn the project altogether, right?

Wrong.

Those that remained or their ancestors picked it back up with CXEV4826 through CXEV4999. They were, again, unstable, but the creation of CXEV5000 brought light to their flaw: they did not design the others to have an A.I. to understand orders and commands. This would be a good thing, only if...

[ Sertoria pauses to rub at her neck slightly and flinches out of habit at this point, burying her head slightly. ]

...Only if they were nothing more than mindless barbarians who just wanted to see the project finally work. When I was created, my objective was to kill and nothing but. The more I killed, the better my treatment was. Although, if I were to rebel, I would be tortured until I realized my place and did my orders so that I would not be tortured ever again.

[ She goes silent, reliving all the experiments and the years of doing orders and nothing but just flooding in her head. ]

You and I...are kindred spirits in this sense, are we not?

oops

[fuhgeddaboudit]

I-I'm sorry. I wouldn't a' even guessed.

[Labrys rubbed at her eyes, wiping away tears before hugging Sertoria tightly.]

...Why don't they get what they're doin' to us? If ya wanna build a weapon, build a weapon and not somebody t' push around. I just...I don't get some humans, y'know?

[immortalia]

[ Sertoria can't help but notice the tears coming from Labrys. She curiously inspects her for a moment, then returns to hugging Labrys. ]

Humans are fascinating. In my time, I have seen civilizations rise and fall, but yet humanity still perseveres through it all. They can change and adapt so easily, and yet, are so strong at the same time. That is why I have sworn my life to protect them.

Even if... Even if they fear me or refer to me as a monster due to my deeds.